For the third time in 2025, a Mid-Columbia agricultural operation has agreed to a settlement with state justice officials for reportedly treating workers unfairly.  

Toppenish-based Cornerstone Ranches will pay $1 million to more than 50 domestic farmworkers—most of them women—the Washington attorney general’s office said the company wrongly fired after holding them to different productivity standards than its mostly male H-2A foreign workers, according to a release.   

AG officials also allege Cornerstone, which grows apples and hops, laid off local workers while retaining H-2A employees. Cornerstone has denied the allegations.  

The settlement, part of a consent decree stemming from a lawsuit filed in June, additionally bars Cornerstone from applying piece-based productivity standards to local farmworkers for any year it also hires H-2A workers.  

“This term is crucial because local farmworkers told the (attorney general’s office) that they were required to prune 100 apple trees per day and received warnings or were fired if they failed to meet that benchmark, but that H-2A workers were not held to the same standard,” officials said in their release.  

The federal H-2A program is intended to help employers meet seasonal labor needs during labor shortages. It requires those employers to certify that there is a shortage of U.S.-based workers who are willing, qualified and able to do the work needed by the company. H-2A and domestic workers but be provided the same benefits, wages, guarantee of hours and working conditions.  

Northwest Justice Project, a legal aid program with offices in the Tri-Cities, initiated the state investigation by referring it to the attorney general’s office. That organization, along with Yakima law firm Sunlight Law, represented some of the workers included in the settlement.  

“This consent decree and settlement send a clear message that Washington's local farmworkers cannot be pushed aside, misled about job opportunities, or subjected to harsher standards simply because employers prefer to hire temporary foreign workers,” said David Morales, managing attorney of the Farmworker Unit, Northwest Justice Project. “We're proud to have stood with these workers in demanding accountability and real change.”  

The consent decree with Cornerstone will be in place for three years and will be extended to five years if the company fails to comply with its terms. 

In April, state justice officials reached a $180,000 settlement with Richland-based King Fuji Ranch to resolve allegations that company unlawfully replaced local farmworkers with H-2A workers. In early December, fellow Toppenish ag operation Shinn & Son reached a $300,000 settlement and agreed to reform its hiring and training practices to address allegations that it discriminated against local workers and women and misled job seekers.